Chesterfield first team ready for hockey homecoming

The last competitive match at St Mary’s was the 4-2 win against Warwick on 17th October 2020, in a season cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

After three away fixtures in the newly created Yorkshire & North East Premier division, the 1st team finally return to St Mary’s this Saturday 16th, when they host Leeds 2s at 2.30.

In a mixed season so far Chesterfield followed up an excellent opening day 1-0 win at Sheffield Hallam HC with consecutive defeats to City of York HC (4-0) and Stockton (7-0).

Despite the results, captain Jon Moores is maintaining a positive outlook.

He said: “It’s been a tough start, but we are building a new side and are learning all the time.

“The standard of the division is a real step up for the boys but they are up for the challenge.

“It’s a steep learning curve but we are in the great position of being able to take one match at a time without any pressure.

“We’ve had three away games so far this season, which have been a great experience, but I have to say we are really looking forward to finally playing at home.”

Coach Christian Battye has also urged patience with a young team.

“If you look at the last two matches, we’ve had half the starting line up made up of under 18s up against older teams with lots of experience at this level,” he said.

“Literally men against boys! In fact, three of the team also play for the under 16s - something which the club can be proud of.

“Seven of the squad we had last year have moved on, so we’ve had to build a new team very quickly.

The aim is to develop the young players and hopefully stay in the division too. Although we’ve had two heavy defeats the lads are enjoying competing at this level and are having fun.

“It was also great to see a small group of away supporters at Stockton this weekend - very much appreciated!”.

After hosting Leeds, Chesterfield’s next trip will be to Lincoln to take on league favourites Lindum HC on the 30th October.

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